LEAD TIDBIT:
Bikurim Revisited

Back in Parshat Mishpatim, the Torah commanded us to take of the first fruits (Seven Species) and bring them to G-d’s House. That is, we have the mitzva of bringing Bikurim to the Beit HaMikdash. The mitzva of Bikurim shares a pasuk with the prohibition of Meat-in-Milk. But that’s another issue. This exact same pasuk also appears in Parshat Ki Tisa. Bring Bikurim.

Next we hear of Bikurim is this week’s sedra, Ki Tavo. We have more detail about preparing the Bikurim gift and the bringing of it to the Beit HaMikdash. And then we have a companion mitzva to Bikurim - namely, the recitation of the Bikurim Parsha. The Bikurim passage makes Bikurim diferent from all other mitzvot related to the Land (and most other mitzvot in general). When your crops have been harvested, you take a portion (about 2%) and you give it to a kohein. You merely say to him: “Here’s Trumah that I took from the yield of my harvest. The same thing happens when you give Maaser to a Levi and Maaser Ani to a poor person. We can imagine the recipients saying Thank you, or Tizkeh L’mitzvot, or both. But that’s it.
Bikurim is different. The fruit are desig- nated for Bikurim well before they are ready to be pick. The basket and its decorations continue to build up the excited feelings that accompany this mitzva. So too the Bikurim procession and the reception of the Bikurim bringers by the people of Jerusalem.

And then there is yet another command associated with Bikurim. Although it is not numbered among the 613 mitzvot, it is nonetheless an important compo- nent of the mitzva of Bikurim. SIMCHA. Bikurim is the Total mitzva. It is ful- filled by doing, by speaking, and by feeling. May we be ZOCHEH.
The bringing of Bikurim is specific; the portion to recite is specific. But the command to rejoice is more general - B’CHOL HATOV... in all the good that G-d has given you... This speaks to an attitude that covers all aspects of one’s life. The Tocheicha later in the sedra says it differently: All sorts of bad things will happen to you, because you did not serve HaShem with joy and good will...

It is hard these days to maintain and develop an attitude of SIMCHA for what we do. However, we are not talking about a “stupid grin on one’s face”, but rather a deep down and all-pervasive feeling of joy in being Jewish and committed to G-d and His Torah. This can co-exist with sorrow and sadness in proper perspective when it has to.